Page 30 of Fanged Embrace
Blinking rapidly, I shook myself out of my confusion. Whoever the blond guy was, he clearly had his own agenda—and it involved ticking off security guards in spectacularfashion. I glanced back at the control panel, dread shifting gradually into something a little more determined.
Taking a deep, uncertain breath, I cracked my knuckles. This was not exactly how I'd imagined this mission going, but I was willing to improvise.
If blondie wanted chaos, then chaos he would get.
15
River
“This place is a dump.” Maxine sidled up beside me with her hands on her hips, overlooking the warehouse sprawl with a curl of her lip.
“Ethan is in danger, Max,” Hunter snapped over her shoulder. “You think you could be serious about it?”
Maxine scoffed, dusting off her corset. “All right, Miss Holier Than Thou. Tell me, how’s the view from your high horse?”
“Can it. Both of you.” I stepped between them to silence their bickering. “Let’s just find a way in.”
We had no time to spare for an outfit change on the way over, which left all three of us monumentally overdressed for the occasion. Hunter’s suit had not stayed clean for long, Maxine left a trail of shimmering glitter behind her like a ridiculous pink fairy, and my evening gown caught on every jutting bush and outcrop as we edged our way closer to the fence.
Hunter shot me a sidelong look before shrugging andscaling the chain links. I followed close behind, hiking my dress up past my knees and wishing I’d worn something a little more substantial than a goddamn G-string underneath.
Maxine gave a disdainful sigh but followed anyway, her stilettos remarkably silent while her mouth was not. “Honestly, Ethan couldn’t have picked a less grimy location to play hostage in? This dress is alreadyruined.”
Hunter and I groaned in unison as we dropped down on the other side of the fence.
When we straightened up, I scanned the scene, suspicious of the stillness and hyper-aware of the faint light leaking through boarded windows. I flicked a glance at Hunter. “What do you think?”
Her pupils had narrowed to pinpricks, and though she wore her standard casual indifference like a badge of honor, I knew she was tense. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Hunter cared for Ethan. And judging by the stiff shrug of her shoulder and the panicked look in her eye, right now, she was scared for him too.
“I’m thinking that roof looks promising.” She slunk further into the shadows without waiting for a response. Maxine and I followed, creeping closer to the dilapidated building.
Hunter scaled the wall around the back with the agility of a cat and Maxine and I followed suit—with many a muttered complaint from Maxine’s end when the preening vamp broke a nail on the way up.
By the time I made it to the top, shoving a sulking Maxine out of the way and hauling myself upright, Hunter had already made her way over to the bulkhead and graciously kicked the door in. It wasn’t exactly stealthy, but her blond partner in pettiness was in danger so I could forgive it.
All three of us stared down the illuminated stairwell, then at each other, then we slipped inside—and were thoroughly surprised to find a cold, clinical interior. My senses sharpened,every inch of me on high alert, but all I could hear was the distant hum of machinery and our own careful footsteps echoing in the cavernous corridors.
“This is… not what I expected,” Maxine whispered, haughty posture sagging with a hint of unease. She shot Hunter a sidelong look, anxiety evident despite her flippant tone. “You think the elves have something to do with this?”
“No,” Hunter muttered, sidestepping Maxine’s puffy skirts with a scowl. “We shut down Cathy’s entire operation. This is… something else entirely.”
Before Maxine could respond, a loud crash resounded down the hallway. It reverberated off the walls, followed by a cut-off yelp echoing from somewhere to our left.
I tensed up. “You think that’s?—”
“Yep.” Hunter jerked her head in that direction, and we set off at a run. Shelves of medical equipment and strange contraptions bled into my periphery, an entire macabre laboratory hidden within an unassuming warehouse.
Following the faint sounds of a violent scuffle—the dull thump of fists meeting flesh—we veered down another passage, passing a series of steel doors. Light spilled from one of them left slightly ajar.
We skidded to a stop and I glanced at Hunter and Maxine; they each gave me a grim nod of confirmation. I swung the door open fully and all three of us rushed inside, ready to wrench our friend from whatever horrible torture he was being subjected to.
What we found was… Ethan. Looking perfectly at ease considering the circumstances.
The blond vamp was standing there with his clothes slightly rumpled and his hair a tousled mess, but other than the faint dishevelment, there was not a scratch on him. He had what looked like a security guard gripped by the collar and onefist raised like we’d caught him in the act of pummeling the guy to a bloody pulp.
“Oh, hey.” Ethan promptly released him when we came crashing in. The guard thudded to the floor with a loudthump. Out cold.
“Hey?!That’s all you have to say? What the hell happened?!” Hunter waved her hands at the scene, tone turned stern like she was scolding a child. “You just up and disappeared—We all thought you were dead!”
